Save Time At Work With Your Strengths It's Easy, Not Lazy
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Take The Path of Least Resistance To Save Time At Work
One of the best things that happen when you are aligned with your natural talents is that work ceases to feel like "work." This is that sweet spot where you accomplish your tasks feel like you\'re in a state of flow. This is when things on your to-do list energize you, rather than drain you.
Since the work is easier and the results are more excellent, you save time and precious energy at work.
It\'s totally different on the flip side when you work out of your weaknesses. You feel this inner resistance, which can lead to self-doubt and early exhaustion. As your energy dips, you feel like you have nothing to give. Which is not the truth, because you have it in you all along.
Here at Lead Through Strengths, we want you to drive towards what you want to have more of, such as work that gives a sense of meaning, while managing all other tasks at hand.\\xa0
The more you use your strengths, the more you\'re able to offer your best to the world. But how exactly do you get more of what you want when your plate is already full of soul-sucking tasks, and for which you think there are no takers either?\\xa0
Certainly, you don\\u2019t have to get stuck in this situation for long. So, listen up as Lisa Cummings and TyAnn Osborn put together and share great insights that will help you build a career centered on strengths that you love.
Here\'s their conversation.
Lisa:\\xa0You\'re listening to Lead Through Strengths, where you\'ll learn to apply your greatest strengths at work. I\'m your host, Lisa Cummings and you know, I\'m always telling you, it\'s hard to find something more energizing than using your natural talents every day at work. Well, something that\'s just about as energizing is when I get to hang out with my other host here in the room TyAnn Osborn.
Today, the topic is, you know, stuff that happens at work, that is, a little weird or awkward "things that make you go, hmm." And that thing\\u2026. it\'s a ridiculous call back to Arsenio Hall. It was way back. No really, it\'s those things that make you go hmmmm because you can\'t figure out how to quit making work feel so hard.
TyAnn: Yeah.\\xa0
Lisa: What if that thing is, \\u201cHey, Ty, why is my manager keep giving me all the tasks that I hate? Hmm.\\u201d
TyAnn: I think it\'s because they hate you.
Lisa: (eyes widen) Hmmm.
TyAnn: No, they don\'t hate you. That\'s what we\'re going to talk about today.\\xa0
Lisa: But this is a real thing.\\xa0
TyAnn: This does happen. This happens all the time.
Lisa: I actually have an uncle who said from his corporate experience (shout out to Alan) he said that if you are doing a task that you can\'t stand, but you\'re the one who does it the best in the office, he\'s like, \\u201cWell, the next time they need to get that thing done, who are they going to come to to get the thing done? You, the one who did it the best.\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.\\xa0
Doing A Great Job? Best If It\\u2019s On Tasks That You Love
Lisa: So I do think this can happen because people get known for things that they don\'t even like, but they haven\'t worked on their career brand.\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.\\xa0
Lisa: They haven\'t talked to their manager about what they do like or hope for more of in their development. And I think that is one of the reasons you can be really good at something that you don\'t like. You\'re masterful because you keep getting it assigned to you.
TyAnn: Absolutely. This happens all the time. This has happened to you and me. This happens to our corporate clients all the time and in a very innocuous way. There\'s no diabolical plot behind this. And especially when you\'re more junior in your career, where you might not feel like you can say, \\u201cI don\'t really want to do this, or, I don\'t really like this.\\u201d\\xa0
And so, here\'s what happens: Oftentimes, when you\'re smart, you can do a lot of things, and do it in a very proficient way. And actually, your product can be pretty good. And then guess what, because you did a pretty good job at that, next time, they have that horrible spreadsheet that needs to be done \\u2014
\\u201cYou did a pretty good job so you\'re gonna get known as the horrible spreadsheet fixer.\\u201d
Lisa: And you don\'t want to be the one... I mean, if you\'re a hard worker...\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah.\\xa0
Lisa: ...yet you don\'t want to be the whiner, complainer...\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.\\xa0
Lisa: The purpose of this episode isn\'t to say, we\'re going to empower you to go tell your leaders all of the things that you just don\'t like.\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah, don\'t don\'t do that. That\\u2019s not the takeaway from this section at all. That\'s a career-limiting move by the way.\\xa0
Lisa: High-risk conversation.\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah.\\xa0
Lisa: It would be less risky to figure out a way to describe the stuff you do want more of that you would like to grow into.
TyAnn: Yeah. So Lisa\'s got a great term that she uses about career crafting. She calls it "job shaping." So we\'re going to talk to you about how to lean your job more toward the things that you do like, and how maybe to get away from some of these legacy things, that kind of seems stuck to your shoe that you can\'t quite shake.\\xa0
Lisa: Oooh, that\'s a good way to say it.\\xa0
TyAnn: Or how to, how to avoid that thing you don\'t like. So, we\'ll give you some tips both ways. So how to lean more toward the stuff you want, and how to get out of this position of some stuff that you don\'t like.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah. And I mean, I think the simplest concept for the gum on your shoe, (that\'s a good one), is like, it starts to fade away from assignments if you continue to get known for the things that you *do* enjoy.\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.
Lisa: I call this concept, \\u201cdon\'t expect your managers to be mind readers."
Because it\'s easy to think, \\u201cThey should know that that\'s a horrible thing, the horrible spreadsheet task, like they should know, I hate that. Why do the give the junk tasks to me? Yes, I might save time because it can turn into a mundane brainless task, but that\'s now how I want to save time at work.\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: How would they know? And what do you...\\xa0
Lisa: You call it something else, don\'t you? What do you call it?
TyAnn: I call it "the psychic method doesn\'t work." Even though we might try to prove this over and over? Yeah, so and here\'s the deal, too. We see the world through our own eyes, because that\'s the lenses we were given, right. And we tend to think, "everything I hate, everyone else hates." Or the opposite: "everything I like everyone else likes."\\xa0
But that\'s not how the world works. And certainly in the strengths world we find there\'s all kinds of different things. So just because you like something or dislike something, somebody else has a completely different set of likes and dislikes. So if you secretly hate that thing you\'re working on, and you don\'t ever say anything, guess what? How would anybody know that?
Especially if you keep doing a really good job at it. And the other factor is that if you\'re working in your weakness zone, it\'s not going to be as intuitive. It\'s going to take you longer. The way to save time at work is to spend more of your time in your strengths zone.
Lisa: Yeah.\\xa0
TyAnn: And you never say anything. And then they\'re like, \\u201cHey, Lisa, good job on that spreadsheet.\\u201d You\'re like, \\u201cOkay, thanks.\\u201d
Lisa: Hey thanks. Hey, I\'m a hard worker. And I keep getting more of this stuff that I don\'t like. It feels soul-sucking and time consuming.
TyAnn: And think about this. What if you have a lot of Achiever and Responsibility in your top themes?\\xa0
Lisa: I had it. I had a client, example, recently where she led through Responsibility. And she was on a big global project, all people in all time zones, and she thought it was really important to get people synched-up that someone would capture the initial conversation. This is basically a note taking thing.\\xa0
TyAnn: Ahh
Lisa: So she asked, \\u201cWho would like to volunteer?\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: Okay, usually the answer is going to be, \\u201cno one.\\u201d\\xa0
Lisa: That is pretty much what happened. Podcasts don\'t go well with me demonstrating the long cricket-silence she got in the meeting. But that\'s what happened. She asked, and all she heard was crickets.
TyAnn: Yeah.\\xa0
Lisa: *no answer, *no answer.\\xa0
TyAnn: She probably felt like she had to do it.\\xa0
Lisa: She did. She leads through Responsibility. She can\'t let a ball drop. She was like, \\u201cI\'ll take it.\\u201d So she takes it. And she said she found herself time after time after time taking it and she was new to the company and new to the role and six months in, she said \\u2014
\\u201cDo you know my career brand here is I\'m the team secretary?\\u201d Oh, and she feels like it was that one decision that led to the next one, to the next one, to the next one. And now that\'s how they see her. So now work feels slow and clunky. She drudges through it. She\'s dying to save time at work because she\'s bogged down in tasks she hates.
TyAnn: And now for her branding exercise, she has to undo all of that, which is a, you know, a much more difficult spin.\\xa0
Lisa: Our career-memories are long.\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah. So that\'s going to be a whole ball of work just to undo just to get her back to neutral. Because then we have to replace all that with something else.
Lisa: Mm hmm. Yeah.\\xa0
TyAnn: I mean, it can be done but that\'s just a harder way to go.\\xa0
Lisa: I think that\'s actually a good one for the example of what you were talking about. Like there\'s the how, how do you unwind from what you don\'t like and then build into what you do like?
Now if you imagine this person walking around declaring:
\\u201cBy the way, I don\'t like note-taking.\\u201d\\xa0
\\u201cBy the way, I\\u2019m not a secretary.\\u201d\\xa0
\\u201cBy the way, that\'s not really what I want. I\'m, I\'m so much more.\\u201d\\xa0
"By the way, I\'m actually trying to save time at work and be efficient here!"
That would not go well. That would be awkward, whiny and bizarre.\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah.\\xa0
Lisa: But if instead, she starts really knocking it out on these other three things that are a big deal (the ones that are in her strengths-zone), then over time, it doesn\'t take that much time. She gets known for other (good) things and the draining things fade away into a distant memory.\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.\\xa0
Lisa: And that is a path that is much more doable.
And I like to give clients a script that is like a starting place for a career conversation with their manager. For example:
\\u201cI just listened to this podcast episode and it got me thinking about what I would love the most to grow into next in my role. And so it made me think...I\'d love to have more projects that require a person to create momentum on the team. I\'d love it if you\'d consider me next time a big change management effort comes up.
(To TyAnn), give me another talent theme that she has besides Responsibility.\\xa0
TyAnn: Okay, let\'s say she also has, um, Communication.\\xa0
Lisa: Okay, so she also leads through Communication. And the team\'s doing a project where they need to roll it out to a bunch of end-users who aren\'t really going to love it. And it\'s going to take some real change management effort.\\xa0
TyAnn: What clients don\'t always love what you have to roll out? Sometimes there\'s change management?\\xa0
Lisa: And imagine how many people wouldn\'t like that? You know, I have to go out and convince a bunch of other people to do a thing, like most people go, \\u201cI don\'t want to do the dog and pony show. I just want to make the great thing.\\u201d\\xa0
And then if you build it, they will come, right? No, you need people who lead through Communication, who can spark momentum and get other people excited about it, and communicate the benefits of it and get out there and spread the message and recruit other messengers. This kind of stuff that would be really fun to her would be loathsome to other people.
TyAnn: Absolutely.\\xa0
Lisa: \\xa0So if she comes around now and says, \\u201cI just listened to this podcast. It got me thinking about things I\'d like to grow into. I know we have this problem right ahead of us. If you see a part of that project, where I could contribute my Communication talent theme to to be the spark of momentum, I would love to help with that. So I just want to put it out there. If you see this opportunity, I hope you\'ll think of me.\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: Absolutely.\\xa0
Lisa: Any manager would love to hear that.\\xa0
TyAnn: They\'re probably, \\u201cOh my gosh, thank you so much because I was cringing inside thinking how are we going to get all the engineers on board, or whatever it is. And hey, now that you\'ve been working, you know, Pan Global, you\'ve been, you know, all these people in all these different regions. You know, we can really tap into that.\\u201d\\xa0
So what she didn\'t do was go around and whine about it. So I would say from personal experience, not the best approach. So she didn\'t put on her t-shirt, \\u201cHere\'s all the things I hate about my job.\\u201d Again, not the best approach. And she didn\'t go to her manager with an ultimatum, \\u201cIf you don\'t give me this I\'m gonna fight.\\u201d You know, be, \\u201cI\'m gonna quit\\u201d or whatever. That\'s not also good.\\xa0
What she did do is offer up something that she would like to be known for, she would like to lean into. And even in this case, she might not be saying \\u201cI have all this experience in this area.\\u2019 It sounded like she was saying, \\u201cI would like to get experienced in this.\\u201d
And now she\'s getting assigned work she loves. Those lovable tasks feel like they save time at work because they do - they\'re easier. They\'re your space to get in flow.
Lisa: Yeah.\\xa0
Sharing Your \\u2018Trash And Treasure\\u2019 List To The Team Could Fast-Track A Career You Love
TyAnn: So that means I\'m going to be great at it. First, right out of the box, I might need to partner up with someone to try to offload some of the trash-tasks. But it\'s a great way for her to lean into something as opposed to just leading with, here\'s what I hate about my job, which would be great.
Here\'s what\'s funny: because here\'s this task now that she loathes, but there is someone else out there, I promise you, who would love the opportunity to do the thing that she hates. This is what\'s so hard for us. Remember, everything that we hate, we think everyone else hates too.\\xa0
But there\'s someone else out there who maybe you know, funny enough, maybe they also have Communication, but theirs show up in a written form. Maybe they are not the extroverted person out there, in terms of extroverted catalytic change. Maybe they are, you know, they are more introverted. They like the details, they want to keep everybody abreast through this great written form.\\xa0
It could be all kinds of things. But there\'s somebody else out there who would love this. And so a great, you know, really well-functioning team is able to talk about these things. You\'ve got this great trash-to-treasure team activity, where again, it takes a little bit of vulnerability, but we can say, here are the top three things I love, or I\'m looking forward to. Here are the things that I\'m kind of ready to pass on to somebody else.
Lisa: I mean, look at that, like we, we love talking with each other. And we don\'t get to the actionable takeaway this fast usually. This is, this is great. That thing that you just described, where if you share it as a team\\u2026.\\xa0
Here\'s an example the other day. A guy goes, (I introduced trash and treasure sort of things, like, what are some things that you really enjoy?), and he said, \\u201cI really like escalation calls."\\xa0
TyAnn: Which is funny, because a lot of other people are like, \\u201cOh, my God, I would hate that.\\u201d\\xa0
Lisa: They thought he added in the wrong column. And then and you know, you just get a lot of that. \\u201cWhy? Why?\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: Why?\\xa0
Lisa: \\u201cWhat are you talking about?\\u201d Like, \\u201csurely he wrote that on the wrong side.\\u201d And he\'s like \\u2014
\\u201cI, I am a deep subject-matter expert. I love when there\'s a big challenge. It\'s gotten.... I don\'t love that customer services are flustered, but he\'s like, \\u201cI love that it\'s been too big and hairy for anyone to figure out, and I can come in and I know when they talk to me, it is over. Their frustration is done.\\u201d He said, \\u201cIt\'s so satisfying to know that there is no escalation after me. It is always solved.\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: Wow.\\xa0
Lisa: And that thing just made him feel so alive. And instantly, in that moment, people are like, \\u201cCan I give you mine? Can I give you mine? Can I give you mine?\\u201d
And he is like,\\xa0\\u201cIn fact, yes. If other things can get off my plate, yes, I would love it if my day were filled with that.\\u201d\\xa0
Imagine. He feels more productive doing escalation calls. He didn\'t study a time management book. He didn\'t even have to apply the Getting Things Done (GTD) method. He saved time at work because he loved it and that is a responsibility that lights him on fire.
TyAnn: That\'s brilliant.\\xa0
Lisa: Now, it\'s not always that clean and easy. I mean, you can\'t just be like, \\u201cYes, let me give you my worst tasks ever.\\u201d For many on the team, that\'s their worst well ever. But it works. There are moments.\\xa0
TyAnn: I love that like that. I love that. Or if we could find, usually there\'s somebody on the team who maybe highly Analytical or they have whatever skill, like the Excel skills, or the Microsoft Project skills. They love, you know, a good Gantt chart or whatever. Usually, there\'s somebody who, that\\u2019s their jam.\\xa0
And someone else wants to poke their eye out if that\'s what they have to do. So wouldn\'t it be great if you could just shift a little bit so that, you know, \\u201cHey, maybe I can\'t just unload this task? Maybe I\'m still responsible for it but hey, Lisa, can I go to lunch with you? And you could just give this thing a once over and you know, make sure I\'m on the right path?\\u201d\\xa0
You know, and you\'re probably like, \\u201cThat\'s awesome. Yes!\\u201d And I\'ll say I\\u2019ll buy your lunch. And you\'re like, \\u201cYou don\'t even have to do that, I\'m excited to help.\\u201d\\xa0
Lisa: Mmmm.\\xa0
TyAnn: I\'m like, \\u201cWhy would you be excited to help about this loathsome project?\\u201d But so you know, those kinds of things are easy ways you can ease into it, even if it\'s not possible for me to be like here at least. So you take it up.\\xa0
Lisa: And I think you\'re bringing up a nuance that\'s important is that you don\'t just want your manager, the person you report to, to be the only one who knows what you want to grow into. Now, your teammates know new things about, you and you know things about them.\\xa0
Maybe then you share with the leader like, \\u201cOh, wow, he was so helpful to me in this way.\\u201d And now he\'s getting known for the thing that he likes.\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.
Lisa: And he\'s getting more of it. And it really does have this virtuous..\\xa0
TyAnn: ...virtuous cycle \\u2014 my favorite thing about Significance, right. Uhhmm, share with each other, what is the thing you love best about your job because, in the words of my friend, Lisa, notice what works to get more of what works. And so if I don\'t know what works for you, I can\'t ever help you get more of that.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah.\\xa0
TyAnn: And I can\'t ever point out because if I keep pointing out your spreadsheet looks really good, and you\'re like, \\u201cOh my god, I hate that thing. I am going to go to my grave and have that spreadsheet etched on my tombstone.\\u201d And you never want to say, \\u201cAh, I\'d really like to do this other thing.\\u201d
So again, coming back to the idea that your manager doesn\\u2019t automatically know what you want, and the psychic method doesn\'t work, and it doesn\'t work for your teammates, either.\\xa0
This is where I think being vulnerable, having that psychological safety, and I think also having that concept of, \\u201cjust because I don\'t say, just because I don\'t love something doesn\'t mean I\'m saying, \\u201cI hate this. I\'m not going to do it.\\u201d
Or, \\u201cI\'m going to do it poorly.\\u201d Because again, I don\'t get to run my unicorn work. I don\'t only get to do the things I want to do all day long. I\'m going to approach my work and always do everything with as much integrity as I can. But there are some things I would like to do more of, and probably have more of an act to do.
Attract Opportunities By Striking A Conversation About Your \\u2018How\\u2019 Skills
Lisa: Yay. Good luck on that, Ty. And don\'t make your take away, the refusal of the job...\\xa0
TyAnn: Don\'t do that.\\xa0
Lisa: ...or the excuse to get out of work or...\\xa0
TyAnn: Don\'t do that. But as you know, as we tell children, you got to use your words. So you\'ve got to put it out there. Whether you call it the secret, or the universe, or using your words, you\'ve got to put out there what you\'re hoping to do more of.\\xa0
Lisa: Oh, and you have to first decide what you want more of. If you\'re going to save time at work by doing work that puts you in flow, you have to reflect enough to know what responsibilities put you in the flow state.\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah.
Lisa: Strengths, reading the book StrengthsFinder, doing the CliftonStrengths assessment, these are all helpful things if you\'ve never even thought of, \\u201cOh, it\'s not just that I would like more of this skill,\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.
Lisa: \\u2026 but also, how I interact with people. Or like, in the Communication example, that was more of a \\u2018how\\u2019, not a \\u2018what\\u2019 skill thing\\u201d and...\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.\\xa0
Lisa: ...like, \\u201cOh, I like to build momentum. Aha, I can ask my manager for things that require momentum building, that\'s not something that they\'ve probably ever thought of using, as an assignment criteria.\\u201d And now they have a whole new realm of things to offer you instead of like that one specific job that you were hoping to move into next.\\xa0
TyAnn: I think that\'s actually a really good point because if you just look at, you know, let me find the magic job title, well, I\'ll just tell you, that\'s going to be a long hard search. Because that often doesn\'t exist. But these \\u201chow\\u201d skills exist in a lot of places that you might not even realize, right? But that\'s where you can, the more you put out there what you want, the more other people will start to help you and say \\u2014
\\u201cYou know, there\'s actually the thing you didn\'t even know, but they could use you on that project team.\\u201d Like I didn\'t even know that was a thing.\\xa0
And then, you know. But again, if you just sit there at your cube, or now you know, at your home office, hoping that the magical assignment comes your way and bluebirds into your, to your window, you\'re going to be sitting there a long time. So you can, you can have a little bit more control in your life when you do the right thing(?)\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah. So if we bring this all together, I would say one action is, you want to have a conversation with the person that you report to.\\xa0
TyAnn: Absolutely.\\xa0
Lisa: And and try to find a way to express, \\u201cHere\'s this thing I would love to grow into. And I would love it, if you would think of me next time you\'re considering assignments that relate to x, and if you use those \\u201chow\\u201d skills.\\xa0
TyAnn: Absolutely. And by the way, it\'s perfectly legitimate feedback for your manager to say, \\u201cOkay, I hear you saying that, but you know what, you don\'t have any of those skills today.\\u201d That might happen. And then you can have a conversation about, \\u201cOkay, how might I be positioned to get those skills? What would a path look like for that?\\u201d\\xa0
Lisa : Yeah.\\xa0
TyAnn: That is completely legitimate.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah.\\xa0
TyAnn: Or for you to look up in the organization somewhere, and then just go talk to someone and say, \\u201chow did you get here?\\u201d How, and, you know, that\'s what, I kind of interview internal people all the time. Have, you know, and just have kind of an informational one-on-one.
By the way, people love to talk about themselves, little tip, and people will meet with you all day long, for 30 minutes, just to tell you their story.\\xa0
And so that\'s where real growth happens. So I love that. So talk to your manager. Again, second method doesn\'t work there. So that\'s the first tip, communication.\\xa0
Lisa: I\'d say, volunteering the talent out. So let\'s say for example, you lead through Learner and Input. And now your company is implementing Microsoft Teams, but no one knows how to use it, and they\'re resisting it. And you\'re like, \\u201cwe\'re gonna have to get down with this program, because it\'s going to be the way of the world. Microsoft is embedded in everything we do, we need to figure it out.\\u201d\\xa0
And so you decide, \\u201cI\'m going to turn on my Learner and Input. I\'m going to find all the cool features and things that could make life easier for teammates and then I\'m going to share it with teammates.
So then you get an opportunity to get known for what you want more of because you\'ve decided, \\u201cI\'m going to do it anyway. I can tell it we\'ll have to figure it out. I\'m going to turn on my Learner and Input which would be fun for me because those are in my top five. And then I\'m going to use those, volunteer them out beyond myself to help the team."
By virtue of volunteering it out, you can see where using the talent makes you feel more productive and efficient. It\'s an experimenting process. It is a process, yet the compounding effect can save you a lot of time at work over the course of months or years. In fact, the job itself can be totally different as a byproduct of these experiments.
If the team does StrengthsFinder as a team thing, then they know the words Learner and Input and you\'re able to say,\\xa0\\u201cOkay, you know, Learner and Input. I nerded out on this. So I thought you might find this helpful, here are all the things that I\'ve picked up.\\u201d And you give them the tip sheet.
TyAnn: I love that. I mean, that\'s so cool. You\'ve made yourself the super user. You\'ve... and it\'s not just about you, you\'ve created, you know, you\'ve positioned yourself in a way of service to other people.\\xa0
So by the way, anytime you\'re helpful to other people, they tend to want to come back to you to get more help, which is great, because you\'ve, you know, you\'re killing kind of two birds with one stone, this is great. They\'re gonna be like, -
\\u201cOh, that you did such a great job that last time we had this thing. Now we\'ve got to have this. You know, we\'re gonna put this in Slack. Nobody here knows anything about it. Can you help us with that?\\u201d\\xa0
And yeah, you would be the person. So I love that. It\'s volunteering your talent, not again, sitting at your desk quietly with your head down, waiting for someone to come tap you on the shoulder and say, \\u201cHey, Lisa, I know you\'re a high Learner Input. So I was thinking maybe here\'s an opportunity, you could, you could do.\\u201d\\xa0
That, that\'s rarely going to happen. It\'s rarely going to happen. So you have to really keep your eye on the landscape and think, \\u201cHow could I apply my top themes to what\'s going on here?\\u201d So...\\xa0
Lisa: Those are big.\\xa0
TyAnn: I know.
Lisa: Okay. I have a third one, which would be, listen for what people kvetch and complain about.\\xa0
TyAnn: Hmm.\\xa0
Lisa: Not to join it?\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah.\\xa0
Lisa: Again, more career limiting.\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah, don\'t do that.\\xa0
Lisa: But if you listen, you can hear like when Ty was explaining the spreadsheet with doing the VLOOKUPs. She was good at them but when she remembers this role that she had where she had to spend all day in the spreadsheet doing Vlookups, her nose crinkles up when she says \\u201cVlookup\\u201d like there\'s an uhm!\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah, there\'s a physical response when you don\'t like something. You\'re basically or even your body might hunch down a little bit.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah. So watch for that because let\'s say I were the teammate, I lead through Analytical and Deliberative and I love slicing and dicing data and living in Excel put me in Excel all day long as my favorite job, when I see her react that way, if I\'m listening to other people\'s responses, both tuning in...\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah,\\xa0
Lisa: ...even just to watch, but I\'m watching, \\u201cOh, saw your reaction in the Vlookup there.\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: \\u2018Saw the nose crinkle.\\xa0
Lisa: \\u201cNot your BFF, huh?\\u201d She\'s like, \\u201cNO!\\u201d And then I go, \\u201cAh, I start to get ideas. I could, I could take that on for you. And maybe you could swap something out with me. Or maybe I could give you a shortcut template or something like that, where I\'m just volunteering it out.\\u201d\\xa0
She\'s thinking, yeah Vlookups are slow and cumbersome and awful. Meanwhile you\'re thinking that Vlookups are such a great way to save time at work and get really efficient.
But beyond watch for things you could swap with others. And when you see others kvetching and complaining, you\'re often able to see \\u2014
\\u201cOh, that thing that I like, not everybody likes that.\\u201d\\xa0
\\u201cOh, that thing that I\'m good at, not everyone else is good at it.\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: Right. I think that\'s huge. And just thinking about that person with a spreadsheet, you know, maybe there\'s a meeting they have to go to every week where they have to report out on that spreadsheet. And that meeting causes them no end of angst. They get the pit in the tummy feeling, they get the flop sweat, they go in and even though they know it front and back, they can\'t communicate that to save their lives.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah.\\xa0
TyAnn: And it\'s miserable for everybody. And you\'re like, \\u201cI could talk to those people cold.\\u201d\\xa0
Lisa: That is perfect.\\xa0
TyAnn: You\'re like,\\xa0\\u201cHow about I, you do the back end, I\'ll do the front end and together we are the Ty and Lisa show? Only if it was the two of us. There really wouldn\'t be a back end, we would only be to the front.\\xa0
Lisa: We\\u2019re going, \\u201cTo the back. To the back. To the front. To the front.\\u201d It would be stuck \\u2014 a skipping record. \\u201cTo the front. To the front. To the front\\u201d\\xa0
TyAnn: We need to have a team. We would need Deena a lot with this, to help, to help round us out. Um, yeah. So again, the psychic method doesn\'t work. So you got to have that, those conversations, and I think that will really serve me well.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah. So let us know, how did your conversation go? How did you bring it up?\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah.\\xa0
Lisa: And when you were thinking of the talents that you\'re trying to lead into, how did you phrase it with your manager. This is a scripting thing that I find a lot of people get stuck on. And that\'s why I like to give that thing where it\'s like, -
\\u201cHey, I\'ve been thinking about what I want to grow into next.\\u201d Or even using this podcast because at least it\'s less awkward to say, \\u201cHey, I was listening to this podcast. I was trying to learn more about being awesome at work," you know, in something that makes you sound like you\'re continuing to grow.\\xa0
TyAnn: Right?\\xa0
Lisa: \\u201cI\'ve been putting a lot of thought into this and it gave me this idea.\\u201d And then you can offer it out.\\xa0
TyAnn: And then let us know and we\'ll talk about it. Let us know if you tried it and it doesn\'t work either. We\'ll come up with something else for you. There\'s more than one way here.\\xa0
Lisa: We can have the failure recapture. \\u201cOkay, here\'s a scripting idea that doesn\'t work. Don\'t try this because this goes back into that high-risk category that sits right along what...\\xa0
TyAnn: Lisa and I laugh about this because we have tried a whole bunch of things that haven\'t worked before. So we, you know, we can, we\'re right there with you on that. We can help prevent you from having those same experiences.\\xa0
Lisa: Yes. And although my stint in HR was very, very short, yours was much more significant. And the time that we got to spend with leaders saying, \\u201cAll right, fire me.\\u201d
Like, \\u201cWe\\u2019re doing the roleplay. It\'s going to be an awkward conversation. I am now the person.\\u201d And then getting them to go through\\u2026.\\xa0
Scripting things out is tough. And there are so many hard conversations in the workplace. So even these when you\'re, you\'re trying to talk about yourself without sounding braggadocious.\\xa0
TyAnn: Right.
Lisa:\\xa0 That\'s tough too.\\xa0
TyAnn: Right?\\xa0
Lisa: And it\'s not even awkward, and you\'re not telling someone they\'re about to\\u2026
TyAnn: Right.
Lisa: ...lose their job or be on a performance improvement plan. It\'s just simply like, \\u201chow do I describe something that I might be good at without sounding like an arrogant jerk?\\xa0
TyAnn: Like a braggy jerk. So it\'s fine. We, again, it feels a little uncomfortable, because we don\'t have these conversations all the time. So that\'s where you\'re just, you know, you can get a little index card and just literally write this out. And then kind of practice in a mirror saying this. You can practice with a friend. You can call a spirit guide to help you out.\\xa0
And the more you do it, the easier it will become. And again, we\'re not trying at all for you to say, \\u201chere\'s the list of things I\'m not going to do.\\u201d This is just how can you lean your career, how can you steer it a little bit more toward the things that bring you energy, and a little bit less towards the soul sucker parts of the job.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah. And if you do decide that you want to do this as a team exercise, where you\'re talking about it and you want a facilitator, Ty would be a great one for this. She can come into your organization and walk you through that trash and treasure exercise.
She\'s great at helping you figure out what fills you up - even a personal branding exercise for each person on the team.
We have one where you walk away with three words that describe how you would love to be known and describe how you want to show up in the organization so that you can actually take the time to reflect because it\'s hard to carve the time out, and then your teammates can know how you want to be known, and your manager.
TyAnn: That\'s a cool exercise too, by the way. People feel really good about that.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah. And it feels so good to hear them about each other.\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah. Very affirming.
Lisa: And it takes away that...\\xa0
TyAnn: Very affirming. I love that one.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah because you\'re not being awkward or arrogant when some facilitators ask you to do the exercise.\\xa0
TyAnn: Yeah, absolutely.\\xa0
Lisa: Yeah.
TyAnn: So give us a ring. Let us know what works for you and if you need help on this process.
Lisa: All right. With that, we will see you next time. Bye for now.
More Relevant Resources To Support Your Strengths-Focused Career Growth
The previous discussion on strengths as easy buttons for better performance truly supports today\\u2019s episode. You turn on your "easy buttons" when you go for tasks or projects that you find enjoyable and energizing. This leads to a better and well-recognized performance at work.
But going more for these tasks that you love also means ensuring you don\\u2019t end up sounding braggy. Not all people around you might respond well to it. Here\\u2019s Lead Through Strengths Facilitator Strother Gaines sharing tips on how to not sound arrogant\\xa0when building a career around your strengths, so you can review your script before you talk to others about yourself.
If you\\u2019re a team manager, you can help and guide your team members realize their full potential in whatever roles they express to lean more into by assessing their top strengths, along with their trash and treasure list. Revisit Lisa\\u2019s interview with Adam Seaman to pick up more tips.
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